Purely fruit sweetened brownies

If you think the term “healthy dessert” is an oxymoron, these Purely Fruit Sweetened Brownies just might change your mind. Better yet? They’re made with only six real food ingredients, and you can whip them up in no time at all. These fudgey brownies are packed with intense chocolatey flavor.

The main ingredient in these flourless gluten-free brownies is antioxidant rich dark (as in 100%, no sugar added!) chocolate. Dark chocolate contains small amounts of tannins, an antioxidant, to make it a little less naughty than regular chocolate.

This recipe is rounded out with eggs (high in protein) and coconut oil (rich in neuro-protective fats), along with dates, a bit of baking soda, and a good dose of vanilla –one of my favorite ingredients, vanilla makes everything taste better.

Purely Fruit Sweetened Brownies

200 grams baking chocolate (unsweetened chocolate)

½ teaspoon baking soda

200 grams pitted dates (about 10 dates)

3 eggs

¼ cup coconut oil, melted

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

In a food processor, pulse chocolate and baking soda until texture of coarse sand

Pulse in dates, then eggs, coconut oil and vanilla

Transfer batter into a 20 x 20 centimeter baking dish

Bake at 180°C/350°F for 26-30 minutes

Cool for 1 hour

Serve

The veritable icing on this healthy dark-chocolate dessert is that it’s not only gluten-free, it’s grain-free as well. Some might dare call it Paleo.

However, I’m not worried about the semantics of the healthy desserts I’ve been creating for over a decade. As always, I just want you to have something sweet after dinner, made of real food ingredients that won’t leave you with a high-carb hangover. So enjoy these Purely Fruit Sweetened gluten-free, grain-free brownies.

Check out my website elanaspantry.com for more vibrantly delicious, super simple, satisfyingly healthy recipes made with real food! The site has tips for good living and over 700 gluten-free, grain-free recipes.

About the author

Wellness expert and gluten-free guru Elana Amsterdam is the New York Times best-selling author of the book Paleo Cooking from Elana’s Pantry, and founder of the blog elanaspantry.com, where she shares simple, healthy recipes and lifestyle advice.
Elana has written for Parents, Shape Magazine and Delicious Living, and has been featured in a variety of media outlets including Fortune Magazine, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, and has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News Live.
Her other books include The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook (Random House 2009) named one of the "Best Cookbooks of the Year" by The Denver Post, and Gluten Free Cupcakes (Random House 2011), a tome of enticing, yet healthy desserts.
Elana has a BA in history from Columbia University. She now lives in Boulder, Colorado with her husband of 18 years and her two teenage sons.